Moving forward : opportunities and challenges

Lockwood, KA; Smith, K; Woodiwiss, J

Abstract

As we conclude this collection, we reflect on some of the exciting, rich and diverse opportunities and challenges presented by feminist narrative research. Providing a unique contribution to discussions about why and how feminist researchers might use narrative approaches to explore women’s lives, the contributors draw on examples from their own research to explore the kinds of stories that can (not) be told by, for and about women. Whilst the collection does not represent a consensus of what constitutes feminist narrative research, it does offer a number of approaches to researching women’s lives through the stories they tell. The influence of dominant narratives or narrative frameworks on the telling of individual stories is introduced by Woodiwiss in Chap. 2 and further explored in Part II, in the context of relationship abuse (Chap. 5), mothering (Chap. 6) and asylum seeking (Chap. 8). Mauthner (Chap. 4) discusses the Listening Guide as a method of narrative analysis, which can enable the critical examination of stories told by women, and this also informs chapters by Langley (Chap. 5), Lockwood (Chap. 6) and Smith (Chap. 8). Jones and Da Breo (Chap. 7) explore reflexivity and transparency and remind us of the need to acknowledge the role of the researcher(s).

• Online Publication Date: Jul 5, 2017
• Publication Date: Nov 4, 2020
• Deposit Date: Mar 19, 2018
• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
• Pages: 207-213
• Book Title: Feminist narrative research : opportunities and challenges
• ISBN: 978-1-137-48567-0 ; 978-1-349-69508-9
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-48568-7_9